"A couple days after September 11, 2001," said Major Roger Crombie, at the time commander of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, part of 10th Mountain Division, "we had an idea that we needed to be ready and that something was...

"Central Command had published a concept brief on 4 October 2004 via email," Lieutenant Colonel John Reynolds recalled, "that had laid out the requirements to conduct full-spectrum counterinsurgency operations to destroy anti-Iraqi forces (AIF)...